” Never complain, never explain »: This is the saying of Kate Moss. The one that the fashion and beauty industry dubbed the twig walks with her Sphinx face and slender silhouette on the runways and in front of the lenses of the biggest names in fashion for more than thirty years (and still claims to be equally intimidated after all this years). This, in a form of astonishing silence, despite the many scandals that have marred her career. Kate Moss just said herself on the show Discs of the desert island from British radio BBC Radio 4, 24 July 2022.
The traumatic beginnings of Kate Moss as a model from the age of 14
Born in Croydon in 1974, the young Englishwoman was spotted at the age of 14 by the agent and model hunter (” Scout in industrial jargon) Sarah Doukas at an airport. This quickly enrolls her in her agency. Two years later, 16-year-old Twig finds herself on the cover of a pointy magazine The face (photographed by Corinne Day for a grunge editorial that has become a cult story and which tells the difficult backstage to the BBC). And it is the unofficial birth certificate of what will soon be called the era ” chic heroine (yes, like hard drugs) in fashion.
At the microphone of BBC journalist Lauren Laverne, Kate Moss recounts several episodes of her modeling career that have marked her. Some of which are quite nightmare. Like when she went to a casting for a bra catalog as a teenager and a photographer asked her to take off hers:
“I had a horrible experience. I was probably only 15 and he said, ‘Take off your top’. So I took off my top. [J’ai senti que quelque chose n’allait pas] Here, he told meTake off your bra, ‘and there I grabbed my things and ran away. I was in tears. […] I think it honed my instincts. I can spot a fake photographer from miles away. “
Kate Moss and Mark Wahlberg half naked for Calvin Klein were “scary”
Kate Moss recounts another chapter in her life that helped shape her career and character: her cult campaign for Calvin Klein in 1992, alongside Mark Wahlberg, then aspirant rapper (before becoming the mediocre actor we know). It turns out that he is only of age and must interpret the obviously mute sexual symbols of women-children, which swirl around him. During this forced parade, he bluntly says that nothing can fit between her and her penis, except underwear with the CK logo.
On the BBC show, Kate Moss then returns to this shooting that reminds her ” not very nice memories “:” He was very macho and very self-centered. He had a large following. I was just a model. “
When the reporter asks her if she felt objectified, Kate Moss replies: ” Yes, completely. And vulnerable and scared. I think they played on my vulnerability. I was quite young and innocent. Calvino loved it. “
The twig also evokes how bad he felt before this shoot, for barely daring to get out of bed the week before, suffering from “Strong anxiety” to this perspective. What she had already told Vanity Fair in 2012 :
“I had a nervous breakdown when I was 17-18 and had to work with Marky Mark [le nom de rappeur de Mark Wahlberg] and Herb Ritts [photographe de la campagne]. She didn’t sound like me at all. She didn’t sound like me at all. I felt really bad riding this hyper-muscular guy. I did not like it. I couldn’t get out of bed for two weeks. I thought I was going to die. I went to the doctor, and he said: “I’ll give you the Valium”, and Francesca Sorrenti [directrice artistique et photographe de mode, mère de deux photographes de mode, dont Mario Sorrenti qui était alors le petit ami de Kate Moss]Thank God, he said, “Don’t take it. It was just anxiety.
Nobody takes care of you mentally. There is tremendous pressure to do what you need to do. I was very young and was going to work with Steven Meisel [grand photographe de mode] It was really weird: a stretched limo picking you up from work. I did not like it. But it was work and I had to do it. “
Kate Moss’ cocaine gate: “I was a scapegoat”
On the BBC microphone, Kate Moss also talks about the media storm that engulfed her, and the terrible economic repercussions on her career, following the publication by the tabloid Daily mirror photo of her taking cocaine in 2005: I think I have been a scapegoat for many people’s problems. “
Listening to Kate Moss in this way allows us to take stock of what has and still needs to evolve in the modeling and fashion and beauty industry. Also highlight how women are often reduced to the role of mute muses, and who would have many horrors to tell if we bothered to listen to them.
Why Kate Moss has already sketched out many of these symptomatic anecdotes of systemic problems in the past, without necessarily finding an echo. A sign if it were necessary that much more than a release of the word (women always talked), it is a release of listening that is urgently needed. Treatment and prevention. This is specifically what motivated Kate Moss to open her own talent agency (where her daughter Lila Moss signed) in 2016, which she describes to the BBC as follows:
“I told to [Lila], you don’t have to do something you don’t want to do. If you don’t want to do this photo shoot, if you don’t feel comfortable, if you don’t want to be a model, don’t do it.
I take care of my models. I make sure they’re with the agents on set, so when they take advantage of it, there’s someone there saying, ‘I don’t think that’s appropriate. I don’t know if it’s general, but that’s absolutely what I want and can do. “
Front page photo credit: Instagram screenshot @katemossancy x @dietcokegb
Source: Madmoizelle
Lloyd Grunewald is an author at “The Fashion Vibes”. He is a talented writer who focuses on bringing the latest entertainment-related news to his readers. With a deep understanding of the entertainment industry and a passion for writing, Lloyd delivers engaging articles that keep his readers informed and entertained.
